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Surge in online shopping lifts eBay

The company beats Wall Street forecasts for the fourth quarter after the sale of Skype and strong growth from its online payments business

Rhys Blakely

January 19 2012, 1:03am, The Times

EBay has given a cautious outlook for first-quarter profit and revenuePaul Sakuma/AP

EBay beat Wall Street forecasts last night, benefiting from the sale of Skype and strong growth from PayPal, its online payments business.

For the three months to December 31 the company reported net income of $1.98 billion, compared with $559 million for the same period a year earlier.

The figures reflected the growing popularity of online shopping among consumers, pundits said.

Shares were up nearly 2 per cent in after-hours trading, even though eBay gave a cautious outlook for first-quarter profit and revenue. “We had a strong fourth-quarter finish to an excellent year,” John Donahoe, eBay’s chief executive, said.

EBay’s payments unit — which consists almost entirely of PayPal — reported revenues of $1.24 billion, a 28 per cent gain on the same period a year earlier.…

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